A chronicle of Issues, Studies, News and other items of interest regarding Mormonism (2006-2013)

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Anne Frank re-baptized for the dead

Below are two stories related to baptism for the dead of Holocaust victim Anne Frank. The Huffington Post story reports the baptism of Anne Frank last Saturday. Also included is the strongest statement yet by the L.D.S. church, threatening discipline to any of its members who continue such baptisms.Excerpts of "Mormon Baptism Targets Anne Frank -- Again" Huffington Post
--
Anne Frank, the Jewish girl whose diary and death in a Nazi concentration camp made her a symbol of the Holocaust, was allegedly baptized posthumously Saturday by a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to whistleblower Helen Radkey, a former member of the church.

The ritual was conducted in a Mormon temple in the Dominican Republic, according to Radkey, a Salt Lake City researcher who investigates such incidents, which violate a 2010 pact between the Mormon Church and Jewish leaders.

Radkey said she discovered that Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank, who died at Bergen Belsen death camp in 1945 at age 15, was baptized by proxy on Saturday. Mormons have submitted versions of her name at least a dozen times for proxy rites and carried out the ritual at least nine times from 1989 to 1999, according to Radkey.

It takes a good deal of deception and manipulation to get an improper submission through the safeguards we have put in place.

While no system is foolproof in preventing the handful of individuals who are determined to falsify submissions, we are committed to taking action against individual abusers by suspending the submitter's access privileges. We will also consider whether other Church disciplinary action should be taken.

It is distressing when an individual willfully violates the Church's policy and something that should be understood to be an offering based on love and respect becomes a source of contention.